I’m Robby, and I’m a non-native English speaker. Throughout my entire life I’ve always wanted to speak in English fluently, but because of the way English is taught in schools, I always struggled with my spoken English.

Then, one fine day, after years of constant pursuit of English fluency, I realized the key aspect of spoken English improvement – learning English phrases and word combinations instead of studying grammar rules and trying to construct sentences in your head from scratch!

If you’re interested in improving your English fluency too, please check out the English Harmony System which is a product I created to help all my fellow foreigners to better their spoken English and achieve so much more in professional, social and personal life.

Hi. Which one is correct?
1. an intimate and peaceful setting (without ‘a’)
2. an intimate and a peaceful setting

Example: The hotel has an intimate and peaceful setting for families.

Thanks.

Laura Rizzi

I am looking for a word that means:
Knowledge in one’s own abilities

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH
Confidence or certainty in one’s own abilities…..
which is the definition of ‘Assurance’.
And no, ‘Confidence’ is not the answer either.

How can one have assurance on an ability if they don’t know it exists? That’s why I think I need another word.

Laura Rizzi

When comparing two sets of multiples or more do I use the word “and” once or twice? Or should I replace the 2nd “and” with “from”?

Example:

I’m very fortunate I have figured out the connection between childhood learning, development and cognitive disorders (and) (from) adult depression, anxiety, addiction and all things keeping one from being the best adult they can be.

I’m very fortunate I have figured out the connection between childhood learning disabilities, developmental disorders, cognitive disorders (and) adult depression, anxiety, addiction and all things keeping one from being the best adult they can be.

Also I’m pretty sure the 3rd and is okay. But I could be wrong.

Thank you for this site and taking the time to help me and all the others.
(Im not sure I said that correctly lol)

Laura

Alex

Hello!

I hope you can help. I teach English to Spanish students and I’m currently doing some formal writing practice with them for the Cambridge First exam.
I was trying to explain to my students that in formal English it’s good to try to think of a more “formal category noun” for a specific thing. For example instead of saying “shoes” you can say “footwear”, instead of “a drink” you could say “beverage”, instead of “car” you could say “vehicle”.
I suppose for “shoes” and “car” you’re selecting a kind of category (footwear and vehicle), but “drink” and “beverage” are both categories already, only “beverage” sounds more formal. So I don’t know what this is correctly called in the grammar world.
I was trying to find a list of these more formal terms but I can’t find the right grammatical term for this without knowing the correct term. Do you happen to know the correct term for this substitution of nouns (for want of the correct term!) in formal writing?
Thanks in advance,
Alex

Jack Chase

We had to make a sentence using ‘come to realize’. I made the sentence ‘At first i used to think that things that looked easy to do were easy. Now i have come to realize that that is not the case everytime’. The teacher who was checking it said that the rest part of the sentence is correct. Only thing wrong is that I used two thats. Is the two thats right or wrong?

Hola state

We can cut down our time spent on meals by eating similar meals.

In this sentence, why are we using the past tense spent instead of present tense spend?

Sofi Kamal

In the given below sentense, is there anything wrong gramatically? —————– ★ Dear respected teacher,
Wish you the Happiest Birthday.
May the blessing of Allah fill your life with happiness.You are a gift from Heaven, I thank Allah for sent the best teacher to my life.
Such extraordinary language has been expressed what kind brilliant teacher you are.

Lesley Collinson

Would you write “Generation Y are perceived…” or “Generation Y is perceived…”

Partha Pratim Roy

I am giving two sentences here. No1: A knife is used to cut things. No2: A Knife is used for cutting things. My first question is if both are grammatically correct and the second question is if correct what the difference is in any way

Laurie

In the sentence, “She stared at him.” is at him a prepositional phrase?

Sarah

what is the difference between “My dearest Angelica,” and “My dearest, Angelica” in a written letter?

decanada4312

i should have opened it here, not there

it’s called the conditional perfect (a combination of should have + the past participle of the word).

Is ti grammaticaly correct to say “victims were burned all with their clothes”

ziad

A palace is a big house ……….. many rooms where a king or queen lives.
a)whose has b)where has c) what has d)with whom
And how will I know if my question is answered ?

Gi Hh

Do you thhink she is over 21? She may/could/can/might be. I have known her more than 21 years.

English Harmony

But where is the verb ?

preeti

what is difference between “The colour of the walls and the colours of the wall” for subject verb agreement

English Harmony

Providing books for children.

Namwhannn

Which one is correct between Providing books for children or Provided books for children?

English Harmony

Is the subject of the sentance.

Dhruti Rathod

I am seeking your permission to open the maths lab in our school
OR
I am seeking your permission to open the Maths Lab in our school.

Maths lab should be capital or small?

Afridi

Smoking cigarette is injurious to health. What is the function of “smoking” in this sentence.

saba tabassum

what should we fill in these blanks…the organsarion was deeply________(plagued/indebted)by difficulties a decade ago but the new CEO brought many __________(necessary/vital) changes in it and took it to newa height

English Harmony

because you use “compared with” when you are looking for differences (in this case between students who performed/did not perform community service)

Lynny

Do you have any reason for picking that as the answer?

Nitara

What is the plural of the verb – speak?

English Harmony

“compared with”

Lynny

Students who performed community service typically had higher test scores ____________ students who did not perform community service at all.
“Compared with” or “than did”?

English Harmony

The sentence seems to be incomplete.
But I suppose that the intention was to suggest the same person : my father, who is also like a guide to me.

Ganesh Bayya

”My father and guide always helped me” in this sentence, are father and guide 2 persons or one. Please help me.

robert

One goes to a university

Akhilesh verma

He wrote his love letter (in) his blood

Kumar kartikey

Please explain use of ‘the’ and absence of ‘the’ before ‘time’ in following conversation:
Do you know the time? ~
Yes, the clock in the hall has just struck nine. ~
Then it isn’t (no ‘the’) time to go yet.

Ayush Munot

He is muttering to himself about airport and heavy snow .(identify the tense)

Nway

I find writing essays really dufficult.I want to rewrite this sentence starting with ‘what’. I dont know how to write.

Damion Peterson

Hello,
Thank you for taking my question. My daughter has homework and the instructions are for her to “Circle the subject and the verb.” One of her questions is: “The rabid dog is frothing at the mouth.” My wife is an educator for the charter school that my daughter attends, and she said that the students do know what linking verbs are, and it is in their curriculum. She says that the correct answer should be to circle “dog and is” In this case, however, I believe that the verb is frothing, and the correct answers should be ” dog and frothing”. If there is a verb present with a linking verb, we must identify the verb, correct? Can you please help?

Nallavanukku Nallavan

I want some clarification regarding physical harm

Benedict Brown

Hello,
I’m working on a little project about a man who died in 1987. I know he wanted to marry a woman, but I don’t know the period. I’m writing a letter to a relative of this woman who can help me. I want to ask her a question about when the man proposed, but I don’t know which of the following phrasings is correct:

1) When had he proposed to her? In the 1970s or 1980s?
or
2) When did he propose to her? In the 1970s or 1980s?

Erin Roland

Spouses and children encouraged to join
Or
Spouses and children are encouraged to join

Crypto

Athough the text emphasized technology’s influence on communication, it is not the only factor effecting our ability to communicate……this seems like correct usage to me

Saz

“An ordinary cat lover” or “an ordinary a cat lover” ?

Theaa

Hey, can you help me with this?
1)Write inversion od the following
If David bought that car, he would regret it.
2)And can you tell me if these subjunctives are correct?
A) if only I have accepted that job.
B) if only You have read that e-mail until the end.
3) Make a cleft sentence.
He washes his car every day. ( Washes is emphasized)

Rishabh Mansinghka

can u find out grammarly mistakes in this question?
I have a beautiful Bike, my brother has 1 too.

Sami Hart

My eldest brother would be correct.

Sami Hart

Twelve years have passed since his uncle died.

Sami Hart

if its about tense I am trying to appraise you would be correct

Sami Hart

1. Had she come to the house for the first time?
or
2. Did she come to the house for the first time?

I feel that question number one is not entirely correct to stand on its own because I think that it needs another clause to make it complete. So, my question is Can question number one be correct as well.

Muhammad Asim

I am trying to appraise you
or
I am try to appraising you

which one is correct?

Manas Sethi

twelves years have passed since his uncle died.
or
twelves years have passed since his uncle has died.

which one is correct ?

Ravi Parmar

“My _______brother is turning sixty next week? (A) Oldest(B) Eldest(C) Either could be used here(D) Both A &B ” – In this que . Are C and D Option both correct?

english student

Can you say “No matter how strong measures are implemented on the systems,…” ?

Nada Sabry

I’d like to know the right answer
The sentence : Why did you (miss – lose ) last week game ?

Lee

Are there any errors in the two sentences “The survey found that laptops and notebooks remain essential.” and “These are key parts of whom and what they become as individuals.”

Ali

Is it: The project had been going bad, but now it’s getting even worse.
Or: the project had been going badly, but now it’s getting even worse??

Leslie Hanke

The sentence is: “Basic black shoes, belts and socks are required.” Does this mean that the belts and socks are also required to be black in color or just the shoes to be black in color?

Justy

Is it: He is the person I know.
OR: He is the person whom I know.

Trisha Nordick

I have a question. Please tell me how to correctly put commas in this sentence.

The patient was doing well, and according to the caregiver, was ready to go home.

The patient was on his way home and, by and large, went home the next day.

I struggle as to where I should place the comma; before or after and in these examples?

Girlzcout

yes, one is in distance the other is in progression along with other items… farther.

Girlzcout

of…

Girlzcout

many…

Girlzcout

Intransitively in the tech world, we geeks speak differently. We’ve always used mouses when referring to more than one tech mouse.

Girlzcout

Remove the prepositional phrase and you get “One is dead”. Which is correct. Therefore your orig. sentence too is correct. but others may correct me if they so choose…

Girlzcout

I would say the first if you want to know “to what” is the country heading. You shouldnt end with a preposition so 2 & 3 is wrong, and for #4, it would be better to simply write it as “Towards where is this country heading?” Others can weigh in if they so choose…

Do as directed.
i) The peacock is vahan (vehicle) of khandoba and is special for us.
[Use — not only —– but also]
ii) It means the abode of peacocks and tamarind trees.
[Frame a wh-question to get underlined part as an answer]
[Underlined part—the abode of peacocks and tamarind trees]

Do as directed

i) He filled ____ inkpot and kept it on _____table.
[ Use — appropriate articles]

ii) The by jumped _____ the river ____ the road.
[Use-correct preparations]

iii) The girl said to the man, ”I’m stranger here. Will you please help me.
[ change the narration ]

Do as directed.
i) the members received their identity cards.
[Identify tense in the above sentence]

ii) FOTP would generate road safety.
[Use — ‘se to]

fayaz

Questions
1.Complete the following by using your own words.
1# Bombs may fall on ______or________
2# they will wound _________ ____________

ii) there is a possibility of finding employment.
[Rewrite using ‘infinitive form’ of the underlined word—–finding]

Irmela

Hi Robby,
Please explain the grammar concepts regarding the use of the word “being” in the sentence below:
Living a meaningful life is not about being rich, handsome or successful.
What part of speech is “being”?
Are there any other words I could use instead of being?
Why are there two “be verbs” in one sentence – is and being?
Sorry for the silly questions, and thank you in advance for your help.

Jardel Lucca

Hi Robby,

We all know that famous quote “there is a sucker born every minute”.

Born is not a noun here (otherwise it should be “birth”). According to my grammar, the quote should be “a sucker is born every minute”. What’s wrong with my understanding?

Cheers!

Annabelle Laws

If i have the sentence ‘The man who had been smothered in mud’ is smothered a verb or adjective?

esraa hamad

what should i choose here :
Do you think the character in this story …….. on a real person
a)based
b)is basing
c)has based
d)was based
by the way i think that we should choose d)was based because we need to use the passive form but my english teacher said that both a)based and d)was based can be correct . can you please explain it ? and does this have any relation with the verb’s being transitive or intransitive ?
finally, i would like you to correct any mistakes in my writing .

Kevin Marshburn

If I were to say to you…” I’m going in the other room for my own comfortablity.” Am I using the word comfortablity correctly?

What is this country heading towards?
Where is this country heading to?
What is this country heading to?
Where is this country heading towards?

Which of the above four questions is most grammaticaly correct?

Ryan

Do participles and conjunctions have the same concept?

anis zaman

One of his family members is dead.
Why is this sentence incorrect?

sanjana vittal

Should it be ” The faculty welcomes the students to the academic year 2017-18″ or “The faculty welcomes the students for the academic year 2017-18” ?

Thanks,
Sanjana

Palden Zimba

Answer my question plz help me out ASAP

Palden Zimba

1)while shopping in a busy market, my pocket was picked and i didn’t know about it till i needed to pay ( begin: someone…..)

kimi

Is everyone sleeping.
-This sentence is correct. Everyone, each, every, everybody, somebody, nobody, somebody, someone, no one are treated singular and hence take a singular verb such as ‘is’, ‘was’, etc…

English Harmony

Here are some versions :
“I have trouble getting along with others”
“I struggle in getting along with others”
“I have difficulty in getting along with others”

Ravi

Can i say .. ” I am hard at getting along with others” and what does it mean

Dummu

We—(have) breakfast in the morning

TINA WARDLE

A dog bit me and left a big ugly wound on my leg. Is it necessary to put a comma between big and ugly ?

verygapes

Can a word have two different plural form? I’m wondering because as a tech nerd I refer to more than one optical mouse as some optical mouses, but if it is the rodent I call them mice.

Rokas Vi

Can I say How much kills? Or How many kills? It is for a video game I had an argument with a friend. Or can you say both?

Jeffrey Lee Pressman

Hidden is better than hiding, although either is grammatically correct. “Hiding” is a gerund, extending the verb “to hide” into continuous action. The frogs are searching and hiding simultaneously, which balances the whole sentence by making its two clauses equivalent, instead of using the second clause to qualify — that is, explain — the first. “Hidden” is the adjectival form of the verb “to hide,” describing something that is not visible: frogs. This is slightly superior here, to my ear, because now the second clause supports the first clause by explaining it. Why can frogs search underwater? They “can” (are able to) do this because underwater they can become hidden, therefore safer from birds. However, in both solutions, I don’t like the proximity of “hiding” or “hidden” to the word “underwater.” It’s clear enough but could be clearer. As a useful tip, adjectives want to be as close the noun they modify as possible, making the description completely unambiguous. For example, the disadvantage of “hidden” is the slight potential to infer that the food, not the frogs, is hidden from birds. A good writer spots that potential confusion and corrects it by locking down the connection between frogs and hiding. For example: To hide from birds of prey, frogs search for food underwater.

Jeffrey Lee Pressman

What I want is love and respect.
(or)
What I want are love and respect.

I do NOT wish to rewrite the sentence to read: Love and respect are what I want. I specifically wish to know if this sort of subject — “what I want” — has a proper term to describe it, and if it is always singular. I have seen both in highly edited sources, such as the NY Times. To my ear, in the example above, “is” sounds better, but in other longer constructions, “are” sometimes sounds better. Is there a rule that applies here?

Riya James

I had a small doubt.. Drinking country liquor at marriage is a custom ______ certain tribes… is it “in / among” certain tribes.. If it is ” among “.. why is that?.. why can’t it be ” in” ?

Saiful Islam

“With due respect to state that…” here please tell me about the use of that. Which parts of speech is ‘that’ here?

Meena Meena

Say me article plzzzzz…..there was ….apple no the table

Geetha

The meeting will be ___ shortly .Which preposition will come here?

anotherdaycn

Can you help with a grammar question? Here’s the sentence: Frogs can search for food underwater, (hide) from birds of prey. I think it should be “hiding” here, but the given key is “hidden”. Many thanks!

Donna Davis Carpenter

I hear “how this all happened”. Shouldn’t it be “how all this happened”?

Wahidkhan

Is everyone sleeping? Are there any grammatical errors in this question?

Gracy June

Could you tell me part of speeches in this sentence? I’ve got it from The Economist.

‘That was when Xi Jinping, already the world’s most powerful man, let it be known that he will change China’s constitution so that he can rule as president for as long as he chooses—and conceivably for life. ‘

Chingakham Lip

accused of / accused for
which is correct ?

mannat

I ——— give you this book if you like. Fill modals. can / must

Rao Aayush Yadav

He died yesterday anyway there was …… Hope of recovery

noel pepsi

The scope of the test does not include:
a) Chapter 1
b) Chapter 5 or Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 in which lessons are not related to Relative clause.
What is the correct understanding of b) here?

Ana

Hey what does a cargo of children and
Crowded with may mean???

Kosha

I think so, but you can’t say: I can cook just as good as you if not better. Here an adverb must be used, I can cook just as well as you if not better

Kosha

Hi everybody! As far as I know, “farther” and “further” can both be used in comparison. But the problem is, that in the test I’m doing the answers include both of these words.
We never travel … than this town.
a) far b) farthest c) farhter d) further
I think c) and d) are the right answers, but I have to choose only one! So, is there any rule excluding either of them in certain situations?

Girlzcout

as adjective as
I know the grammar rule states this format means “equal” but I’ve always understood it to mean similar or greater. For example, he runs as fast as the wind. Doesn’t mean he runs the “exact” same speed as the wind. The light is as bright as the sun. Doesn’t mean literally as bright so can I say that they are both bright, NOT that they are equally bright? My cooking is as good as yours. I could be arguing that I can cook just as good as you if not better…. Can I say that these statements mean similar (adjective wise) not necessarily equal? like both bright (not necessarily equally bright) or both fast (not exactly equally fast)? Thanks in advance.

Tammie oldham

You’re right, I’m sorry. I had not read his bio so was thinking he was just ripping people off who seriously needed to learn proper English. And it would be: “Ask me any question related to grammar.”

No Name

I would say like “Ask me any question related grammar” or somehow differently. Anyway, you shouldn’t be rude, this guy has done a lot to help us as english learners.

Tammie oldham

“HOW you gonna get there ???” What is your 1st language, because it is clearly not English. It would be “How are you going to get there?”

Tammie oldham

‘He asked if I had taken any photographs of the event.’ Please don’t come here for grammar advice – this is clearly NOT someone who’s an expert in the English language, much less grammar.

Tammie oldham

I’m curious how it is that you consider yourself a grammar expert when even your introductory text reads like English is your second language? Case in point: “…not only you’ll get your own question answered, but you’ll also bound to come across some other question…” There are so many errors in that sentence alone! I think I’ll look elsewhere for any help with English grammar.

vasudev

He asked me if I had took any photographs of the event

Dhritishankar Sen

my friend…… over the bushes to get into the classroom. (use correct verb form of jump). plz help me

sushmitha

Can we use “because of which” in a sentence

Sasha Sasha

In this sentence, what is the grammatical term for the capitalized bit? Thank you!
Students complete their degrees via internet and classroom modes, IN WHAT ARE CALLED “HYBRID PROGRAMS.”

Amy Swagger

he asked me i had took any photographs of the event. identify the error

Kiran

can we use word Impact over Aspect?
both have same meanings or different ?

Beth Cornell

product is singular so the verb (end) gets an s. You could always write: Savings on xyz product will end on Sunday.

B Blouch

Can you help settle a debate in the office: “Savings on xyz product end on Sunday” or “Savings on xyz product ends on Sunday”

Beth Cornell

I am writing a cart for my students’ families. I want to quote the students. Do I use a period inside the quote?
“I was late.” said Karen OR: “I was late,” said Karen.
I’m not sure that the period is necessary after Karen because it is not a story. It will be a poster of children’s responses.

Krevie

Hello, I’m writing a thing for school, but I recently I found myself at loss when it came to this question.
On one page, I have this thought – basically, “if something unfair/bad happens to you, take it”, but the language in this part has to be quite advanced, so I came with “Withstand iniquity bestowed upon you”. Is that the right formulation, though?
Thanks for any answer

Dhritishankar Sen

If you will not buy me an ice cream I will not go to school.

If you do not buy me an ice cream I will not go to school.
which sentence is correct and why? please help

English Harmony

She needs

Vishant Kumar

Change the voice ?
Whom do you teach English?

Patty

Please help me with the following grammer.

She need some cardboard boxes for her Visual Arts projects.

OR

She needs some cardboard boxes for her Visual Arts projects.

Do we use ‘need’ or ‘needs’?

thanks

Nitin sharma

Looking _____ I never regretted becoming a laywer.

Nitin sharma

i am so thrilled I _____ speak spanish at the end of this course.
a) Can
b) will be able to
c) can’t
d) will can

Zoya

Hi, I’d be grateful if you could help me with the following:

1. An approach Europe (noun+noun – why can we use two nouns together, without the first one modifying the second one. Is it because one is a proper noun?

2. “Far from gouging consumers, many of their services are free.” In this sentence does gouge mean that they dont want to ‘cut out’ consumers even though their services are free?

3. “It looked outdated in what has come to be called the data economy.” Why is there a ‘in’ between outdated and what? Why does one use this sentence in this way?

Thanks so much!

Ravi Kumar

We should not find fault with our children (correct usage is faults) Why?

Joseph

Hello, why is “Did you already don’t teach English in Beijing?” wrong?

Directly is an adverb and basically answers the question HOW you gonna get there whereas direct is an adjective and describes a person, for example, or a concept – your response can be direct, or you can be a direct person when answering questions, for that matter.

Starc

Of

Tanisha

Reading a novel or short story (a) _________ second language could dramatically.
Options are as follows:
(a) (i) of (ii) in (iii) from (iv) at
Plz answer this question.

Starc

Hello Robby Plz tell me difference between direct And directly.
Question). From bangalore railway station a) i went directly b) to mr bhan at jayanagar.c).

Hello Robby, I am keen to learn professional way of speaking as well as writing in English but I need your help as i do not understand anything about punctuation, specially when their are more small sentence in a line separated by comma.

T

The sentence “Tony was puzzled by the scene” — is this active or passive voice? A bit of both depending how you’re interpreting it? I know helping verbs don’t technically have a tense…

Hi Mei Ling Cheung, so you’re saying shouldn’t we word the sentence this way “Let me know if you need any help to use the computer.”

Well, it doesn’t sound well, it sounds wrong; and the reason being – there’s a bunch of words the DEMAND that the verb after them adopts the -ing form or the so-called gerund instead of staying in the infinitive form with “to” in front. “To help” is one such word, and you can easily find the word list by googling it, here I did it for you: http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/gerund_list.htm

The way I personally go about it is – and I warmly suggest you do the same – I don’t analyze when speaking, I don’t think – OK, let’s see, does this verb demand gerund after it? If you do that, your fluency goes out the window. What you should do is – you should simply learn phrases containing the word “help” and then you’ll quite naturally develop the instinctive feel in terms of how other verbs behave after “help”.

The proper phrasal verb seems to be “take over” because it’s the only one that makes sense – when a company is taken over by some other company, basically when it’s acquired by some other larger company, employees are typically afraid of redundancies. So the proper sentence would be “Their company is going to be taken over next month”.

It depends on the context; in a sentence like “You just need a little bit of sugar” you have to say “a little” because it’s part of a bigger phrase “a little bit of” which has to be learned and memorized as is. In a sentence like “I have little understanding in these matters” you don’t use the indefinite article “a” because you’re discussing an abstract, intangible concept here (understanding) so you can’t possibly talk about a “unit” of understanding so there’s no need for the article. In the first example we use “a” because it goes with the word “bit”; so basically I guess a good way of remembering when to use “a” with the word “little” is – remove the word “little” from the sentence and then see if the article “a” is required.

Chingakham Lip

Should i use ” little” or ” a little” in a sentence ?

Nigyara

I ve got a test. There is a gap Fill sentence – “They are worried about their job. Their company …..next month”. And there are phrasal verbs from the box ” take over, put away, take out, putt off” .
Which one is more suitable ?
Thank you in advance!

“Belgian” is the proper way of saying it – “Belgian” is the adjective.

Danielle Tassius

What is the correct sentence:
The first two Australian soldiers who fell on Belgium soil
or
The first two Australian soldiers who fell on Belgian soil

Prasanna Pandey

But some say that for the second object passive, it would be: Her mother had the problem explained to her by Neha. So, is: Her mother was explained the problem by Neha also acceptable? Could you please add more information?

Hi Prasanna, and yes, both of these passive grammar constructs are correct!

Prasanna Pandey

Could you please tell me whether these passive are correct or not?

Prasanna Pandey

“Neha explained the problem to her mother.”
-There are two ways of making this sentence into passive:
1st object: The problem was explained to her mother by Neha.
2nd object: Her mother was explained the problem by Neha.
– Are these both passives correct?

No Adrian, there’s nothing ambiguous about it! You don’t need to analyze too deep, what happens is – you overthink as a result. “A horse weighing 200 kilograms” is a very straightforward sentence!

Adrian

But isn’t it inherently ambiguous? It could mean a 200kg horse, or a horse that is weighing 200 kilograms(of something).
Wouldn’t “a horse with a weight of 200 kilograms” be more straightforward?
Thank you for the reply btw! Cheers!

Yes, this sentence is grammatically correct and there’s nothing wrong with it!

Adrian

Scenario: A user is googling for a particular product (horse) with a weight of 200 kilograms.
“horse weighing 200 kilograms”
Is this a grammatically correct sentence? If not, what would be the alternatives?

It’s very subtle. Infant mortality rate is an abstract concept so there’s no need for the definite article “the”. If, however, you’ve been talking about before and then you want to specifically refer to it, then yes, I guess you can use it.

Starc

Sorry I dont know exact answer but one of the books mentioned b answer
—>Regarding the infant mortality rate
Plz explain if this is correct when we use regarding the something

Hello please explain until it refers to former or latter.?
1)You can actually boil water until it freezes solid.(here until it referes to water
2)Pokeman go shouldn’t be killing scanners until it has its own tracking system.(here until it refers to first one pokeman go

Personally I would never say “which of this jewellery…” or “which of these jewelry…” – it just sounds weird to me.

I would put it the following way: “Which of these pieces of jewelry is a must-have?”

Cheers,

Robby

Esraa Anwar

Hello, So I’m having this dispute with my manager at work where I might get fired because of it. English is not our first language, but I’ve majored in English at Uni and I’ve taught it as well. He made me doubt myself on the other hand, so here goes my question:

We work in Social Media, so yesterday I posted a photo of 3 diamond bracelets, labeled them with numbers and wrote the following caption: Which of this jewellery is a must have?

He said it should be: Which of THESE jewellery is a must have?

I tried to explain that jewellery is an uncountable noun, and that “which” refers to the ONE bracelet that they should choose, and not the whole set, therefor it should be a singular and not a plural. I am not even good at explaining why things are the way they are, it just comes with sense.

So your thoughts are highly appreciated. It’s ok if I am wrong, I just need to know because it’s a big issue here at work. Thanks!

Identify the error in the sentences
given below if any and please explain correct one also
Q 1.
(a)The need to set up
(b)a good library in the locality
(c)has been in the minds of people
(d)for some time now
(e)No error
Q 2.
(a)Most people would have
(b)attended the union meeting
(c)if they had
(d)had longer notice of it.
(e)No error
Q 3.
(a)He took to
(b)reading Times
(c)for better knowledge
(d)of the facts.
(e)No error
Q 4.
(a)When children have difficulty understanding
(b)a certain mathematical process, it is often because
(c)their teachers do not understand it conceptually
(d)themselves and do not present it in a way that
children can understand.
(e)No error.
Q 5.
(a)Studies show that the lives of millions of mothers
(b)and their children could be saved if countries would
(c)invest in programs that ensures a healthy
pregnancy,
(d)and safe childbirth.
(e)No error.
Q 6.
(a)Film viewers claim that
(b)the number of scenes depicting alcohol consumption
(c)have increased dramatically over
(d)the last decade.
(e)no error
Q 7.
(a)Forty percent of the people alive today have
(b)never made a phone call, but
(c)thirty percent still have no electricity connections
(d)to their homes.
(e)no error
Q 8.
(a)Workers with less
(b)personal problems are
(c)likely to be
(d)more productive in their work.
(e)no error.
Q 9.
(a)Everyone who visits Singapore
(b)is impressed by its cleanliness,
(c)which is mainly a result of rigorous implementation
(d)of their strict laws.
(e)No error
Q 10.
(a)The bridal dress was
(b)most unique: the prince
(c)designed it and his
(d)mother provided the lace fabric.
(e)No error
——————————————————————————————————
Fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given and explain why?

Big ideas come from tackling –13– problems. When
one is confronted with an overwhelming task, it’s
pieces. Business jargon is full of phrases about that,
like “pilot projects” and “low-hanging fruit.” They have
their place, but in the repertory of management –14—,
they should share their place with bold approaches to
big challenges. Much of today’s most valuable
management knowledge came from wrestling with
such issues. The most complicated workplace in the
middle of the last century was the automobile assembly
plant. Drawn to its complexity where Peter F. Drucker,
W. Edwards Deming, and Taiichi Ohno, among others.
The work they and their disciples did, applied in
industry after industry, is the basis of the best that we
know about operations, managing people, innovation,
organizational design, and much more.
The most complex workplaces are tertiary care
hospitals. These vast –15– employ tens of thousands
of people who, under one roof, do everything from
neurosurgery to laundry. Each patient – that is to say,
each “job” — calls on a different set of people with a
different constellation of —16—; even when the two
patients have the same diagnosis, success may be –17–
differently. This is complexity of an order of magnitude
greater than automobile assembly, and anyone who —
18— hospitalized knows that management has thus far
been unequal to the scope of task. The workers,
managers, consultants, and scholars –19– crack this
nut will reshape industries and institutions just as —
20— as Drucker, Deming, and Ohno did.
Q 1.
(a) Small
(b) big
(c) Irrelevant
(d) Buildings
(e) minor
Q 2.
(a) Weakness
(b) Strength
(c) Power
(d) practice
(e) symptom
Q 3.
(a) houses
(b) institute
(c) demagogue
(d) Forts
(e) enterprises
Q 4.
(a) Barbarity
(b) talent
(c) skills
(d) unskilled
(e) barbaric
Q 7.
(a) managed
(b) Officious
(c) Delivered
(d) measured
(e) postponed
Q 8.
(a) are been
(b) have being
(c) have been
(d) has been
(e) is be
Q 9.
(a) who
(b) whom
(c) whose
(d) which
(e) whomsoever
Q 10.
(a) Profoundly
(b) gradually
(c) superficially
(d) speciously
(e) earnest

Well, in this case there’s no such a thing as correct punctuation; you merely change the meaning of the sentence by omitting the comma in the first example! “Let’s draw Charlie” means that you’re suggesting to draw Charlie; “Let’s draw, Charlie” means that you’re addressing Charlie and encouraging him to draw.

Archaeologist assesses, he judges. The meaning is similar, but as for how and when to use those words – it’s all about the context. You just have to “feel” it, and it all comes with exposure and experience.

As for the poem – honestly, I haven’t got a clue! 😉 My area of expertize is normal, every-day English! 😉
Second question – pretty much the same meaning, except for the fact that with the second sentence you would probably mention an actual situation whereas the first sentence is a more general statement.
“of all the dreams…” – kind of doesn’t make any sense on its own, sounds like a continuation of another sentence.

3) No correction. Why? 2) is not an option because “a people” doesn’t make any sense, “people” is a plural noun. 1) is not an option either because the noun “nation” demands the verb “to be” to be conjugated in the 3rd person: “is”.

Why don’t you just rephrase it this way: “It doesn’t matter how you feel about it,” he said. It’s much easier! 😉 But if you want to stick with “he said” in the middle, the second part has to start with a lower case letter “how..”

Ppraveend

Please correctly punctuate the sentence Robby

Ppraveend

Anyone good in English.. Pls correct the following phrase

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, “How you feel about it.”

starc

What the nation needs is people of character.
1)are the people of character
2)is a people of character.
3)no correction

starc

Find the error in the following sentences.
1)The accident was averted as the driver brought his car to a sudden stop.
In my book Answer is no error but why we can not use suddenly stop i have found some sentences like
Why did he suddenly stop texting me?

Carlos

Hello,
I have some questions where i can’t find the right answers.
In a poem i have a question about the word ‘let’

‘the twilight of hope seen through sunset eyes, let magic dreams come true in every sunrise.

In my opinion the word ‘let’ has to be ‘lets’ because subject is ‘the twilight of hope’

Am I correct?

Second question:
What’s the difference between the meaning of these to sentences:

The sentence should start the following way: “Ravi attempted to open…” – because the last part of the sentence is Simple Past “…slipped past…” so it demands the same tense in the beginning of the sentence.

starc

Find the error in following sentence.Ravi would attempt to open / the lock with all his might/ when his spectacles slipped off and fell down/.plz explain i have doubt in would and past simple

In the second instance the emphasis is put on the “is given” part, it implies that someone provided a wrong sentence whereas the first sentence merely says that this particular sentence that we’re looking at is wrong.

What is proper word to say ,when someone looks like he got no idea about anything ,literally in a situation when eyeballs are out.
( blinking is nearly comes close but not the right one I assume, please help )

To be honest with you Tanisha, the entire sentence sounds a bit weird…But if I had to point out the one that doesn’t make grammatical sense, it would be c) – the reason being, the word “should” should be replaced with “would” – I guess… But just like I said, the whole thing sounds weird to my ears anyway! 😉

Tanisha Agrawal

a)/ The parliamentary secretaries are b)/ under notice from the EC to show c)/ cause that they should not be d)/ disqualified for holding an ‘office of profit’.

Hi Robby,
In which part of the above sentence there is a grammatical error and why?
Pls explain..

To me “with a view to find” sounds just fine. The word “view” in this phrase can be replaced with a lot of other words such as “prospect”, “goal”, “aim” etc.- and the verb “to find” can stay the same there.

Whoever wrote this article, hasn’t used a lot of the words and collocations in a native-like fashion, that’s why it doesn’t sound right! Let’s take the following sentence – “Whites started to blacklist governmental issues by and large” – while I kind of understand what the author is trying to say here, the word “blacklist” and the idiom “by and large” aren’t the right ones to be used in this sentence. Here’s how it should be: “The whites started to boycott the government in huge numbers” – or something along those lines. Basically the problem here lies within the fact that the person having written this article has a good grasp of the English language in terms of individual vocabulary words but has a very limited understanding of native-like speech patterns! 😉

walkingdead

“New terrorism has no long-term agenda but is ruthless in its short-term intentions. It is often just a cacophonous cry of protest or an outburst of religious intolerance or a protest against the West in general and the US in particular. Its perpetrators may be religious fanatics or die hard opponent of a government and see no reason to show restrain”

Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning to the word used in the passage as mentioned below

1>. perpetrators

(a) opponents

(b) followers

(c) sympathisers

(d) leaders

(e) manoeuvres

WB09

Someone wrote this in a class somewhere. Something is wrong with their writing, but I can’t make out what it is. I ran it through some word usage/grammar software and found no errors. Why does this all seem wrong? The usage of words sometimes make no sense to me.

Southern Republicans composed new state constitution and framed another state government. Dark men enrolled to vote Republican since they were thankful to the Republican Party that liberated them and conceded them Franchise. They joined in Politics toward training and equivalent treatment under the steady gaze of the law and joined together in the Republican Party to seek after political change. Dark ladies took an interest in the political battle by joining parades and encourages, going to addresses and crusading. Whites started to blacklist governmental issues by and large. Dark’s rejoin with family that they were isolated from on account of being sold. Dark were no more made to go to chapel where they were made to sit in the back, rather they made their own congregation of love that despite everything we know today as the Methodist and Baptist church. That struck an example of school and other get-together to be far from white individuals. Numerous Black individuals could get taught and took each chance to do as such. I don’t trust that any kind of reparations would have tackled a large number of the issues confronted by the liberated men and ladies amid remaking primarily in light of the fact that numerous liberated men and ladies did not have any riches. Regardless of the possibility that they needed to exchange or lead “business” not everybody bolstered liberated men and ladies. The guarantee to some was to possess the area they worked in, a guarantee, satisfied, would not of had a positive result. Arrive alone would not have tended to access to money, credit and markets.

Hi Gabriela,
It’s because when you pronounce the word “universal”, you actually pronounce it as ‘Yuniversal’, so the first sound isn’t a vowel and therefore demands an “a” in front! The rule should actually say “before a consonant SOUND”!
Cheers,
Robby

Gabriela Prodan

why it is correct to say,,a universal language” and not ,,an universal language”? As far as I know a is used before a consonant. Can you explain me the rule?

Well, guess what? Now that I’m looking at it I also think it’s Gerund instead of Present Participle!
One way or another – I would have to do a thorough research to figure out what exactly it is and after all – analyzing your grammar too much is actually bad for your fluency! 😉 http://englishharmony.com/analysis/
Cheers,
Robby

2) ‘And if you are anything like me, by now you should have arrived to the same conclusion or else you Wouldn’t be reading this, right ?

In the above sentences WOULD is used as imagination. In dictionary I found 14 meanings for WOULD but I am confused which meaning suits this. could you please explain. The second sentence I have taken it from your blog. can you explain “wouldn’t be reading this”.

thanks a lot. i humbly request you to write a detailed article about conversation that one may need with kids. it sholud include all routine work from dawn to dusk. eg getting up, school preparation, breakfask, school work, travel, evening activities, playing, manners, attitude and so on. i want you to tell me what should be possible civilized responses ( from speaking point of view) when we want to warn/threat/ scold our kids.for example ” what the hell is this?” is this right thing (civilized) that we should allow our kids to speak? how should we tell them their do,s and dont,s in accurate english.
i’m conscious about it because i don’t want my kids to learn wrong english. i,ll be greatful.

Hi Mona,
Of course you can say “What color is this?” – I just typed in “What color?” to indicate that it’s WHAT and not WHICH that you have to use but it’s totally up to you how you continue the sentence!
“Let’s do it!” is more about spontaneous decisions, such as suddenly deciding to go for a walk in the rain.
“Let’s make it happen!” is more about tasks that would take more time and effort to accomplish, but anyway – these two phrases are pretty much interchangeable.
As for “we made it” – it’s a typical phrase used when people have accomplished some sort of an arduous and dangerous mission. Imagine reality show participants on TV having just accomplished one of their missions – so this is what they would say “We made it!”
Cheers,
Robby

thanks. I’m still confuse about the first query. when i want to teach my daughter about colors, can i say’ what colour is this’. moreover what’s the difference between “lets do it” and “lets make it happen”. and “we did it” and “we made it”.

Hi Noga,
The first sentence sounds much better than the second one!
That being said, you can use the second one as well, all you have to do is slightly change the words: “According to our agreement with Sara, the requests were submitted for her approval.”
Cheers,
Robby

Noga

Which sentence is correct
As per my earlier discussion with Sara,the requests were submitted for her approval
2-as agreed with Sara,the requests were submitted for her approvals

By the way – you may want to check out this article where I’m showing how to use Google to check whether this or that particular English collocation is correct: http://englishharmony.com/find-the-right-words/ – that way you can check them out yourself!
Regards,
Robby

mona bilal

a few more quries
is it correct 1- ok i’ll make you sit on chair ( talking to kids of 1 or 2)
2- let me dress you up. 3 let me cut your nails 4- i get your hands washed.
thanks

mona bilal

Hi robby! while taking to my kids, i confuse which one is corect
1- what colour is this or which colour is this?
2- stay back or stay at back or something else ( when i want them not to come to the edge of chair or bed)
3-let it cool or let it be cooled ( when i want them not to eat hot food)
4- is it correct ‘put on your shoes’. and sit (or get?) on the bed.
thanks

Ayesha

Hi robby,
is it correct to say “that makes me unlike any other girl
Or should it be unlike every other girl?
Thanks

Well, you could say “You don’t need to be!”, but there’s a better fitting expression for that type of situation – “Never mind!”. Also, you can simply respond by saying “That’s alright!” – people say it all the time.

Ayesha

Hi Robby,
when somebody says sorry .
Is it right to say you dont need to be?

Yes, there’s nothing wrong with the sentence! Obviously, if you go by the super-correct English grammar requirements, you’d have to say “…started off slowly”, but in conversational English it’s totally acceptable to use the adjective as an adverb.

Hi Abnita,
Well, by and large you could argue that “not opening” and “not getting opened” carry pretty much the same meaning, but there are slight differences.
When you’re saying that something is “not opening”, you’re implying that it’s not possible to open it, that it doesn’t work. When saying “not getting opened”, you’re implying that there’s a particular person involved in the process, so in the case of talking about a website not opening, you don’t actually have to say “not getting opened” because you’re not talking about a specific person opening the website, you’re just referring to the fact that it’s not opening.
Here’s an example when you would have to say “not getting opened” – let’s say, you’re carrying a large object and you asked a friend of yours to open the door for you. Now, you’re approaching the door, but it’s still closed – so now you could say “What the hell, the door is still not getting opened, what’s going on???”
Hope this makes sense!
Cheers,
Robby

Abnita

Hey Robby,

Which one is right: 1) The web page/site/file is not “opening” or The web page/site/file is not “getting opened”? 2) Main door is not “opening” or not “getting opened”?. Do we need to use “get” with “Open” verb or can we just go with “OPEN” word alone.

Hi Yuki,
I would personally gravitate towards the second option because you delete something “from” a list not “in” the list. “In’ would rather go with verbs such as “insert” and similar that indicate the opposite action to “delete from”.
Regards,
Robby

Yuki

which sentence is correct? Delete this number in your contacts or delete this number from your contacts?

Hi SM_Sarban,
The rule is to use the comma before “but” if it’s followed by an independent clause, basically if the second part still makes sense after dropping the first part of the sentence, there should be a comma before “but”.
In your sample sentences you should put the comma before “but” because the second parts are sentences in their own right: “You cheated me” and “Why you went to her house?”
Regards,
Robby

SM_Sarban

I feel unsure as to when to put a comma before ‘but’. Take two examples:

I believed in you but you cheated me.
OR
I believed in you, but you cheated me.

I want to know not only how but also why you went to her house.
Or
I want to know not only how, but also why you went to her house.

Hi Tejeshwar,
The correct way of referring to Points of Interest is POIs for the simple reason that POI stands for “Point of Interest” thus becoming “POIs” when referring to multiple Points of Interest.
Cheers,
Robby

TEJESHWAR SHARMA

SUBJECT: Short form of Points of Interest; POI or POIs?

Hello,

I work as a Writer in GIS domain. I want to know the correct usage of short form of Points of Interest; is it POI or POIs? I have google searched it, but, could not find a suitable answer. The usage is not consistent across the board, and some websites use the word ‘POI’ to mean Points of Interest, while others use what seems correct to me, to use the word ‘POIs’ to mean Points of Interest. Can you please provide a resolution?

I’m not sure I’m following you. You asked me to provide a sample sentence – and I provided you with a perfect example of how this term “amicus curiae” would be used in real life. Now you’re telling me it means friend of the court – as if the example sentence provided by me would be wrong, which is not the case – I’ve used this term in the way it’s supposed to be used, so if it’s not good enough for you, then sorry, I can’t help you! 😉

Abhijith AU

Amicus curiae means friend of the court, so I want a sentence referring to this meaning. I saw many sentences online but most of them say what u said

This particular legal Latin term refers to a third party assisting a court case, and typically you’d use this term when referring to the documentation such third party submits to the court, they’re called “amicus curiae briefs” so you’d be saying something like “an amicus curiae brief has been submitted” when referring to the fact of the brief having been handed in.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Robby

Abhijith AU

I want to get a sentence made using amicus curiae
Can u give me an example, thanks in advance.

Here’s the deal – it’s not necessary to learn exceptions etc. – it only appeals to our curious nature but serves no other purpose than to confuse us.

Think about what’s going to happen if I gave you a couple of exceptions – next time you speak, you’ll automatically start analyzing your own speech (you’ll be thinking – “Hold on, is this one of those exceptions? Which is the proper way of saying it now?”) and as a result your speech will become super-hesitant and unnatural.

Instead just accept what you just learned – that you respond by saying “No!” to these type of questions – and that’s it!

Yes, it’s applicable in pretty much all similar situations when the question involves a negation! Btw – on a lot of occasions people will be using the so-called question tags such as “isn’t it?” or “didn’t he?” to end such questions, so in this instance the question would be “There wasn’t anything on sale, was there?” One way or another, it doesn’t change anything about the way you’d answer the question – it’s always “No!”

luque

Would this be applied in other cases that may seem similar then?

For example, let’s say that there wasn’t anything on sale at a store.
If someone asks me, “There wasn’t anything on sale, right?”
Would the correct answer to this question be “No”?

Hi Luque,
The word “right” added at the end isn’t a contradiction to “haven’t”, it emphasizes it so in this case “right” means “no”!
So the full answer would be: “No, that’s right, I haven’t seen Avatar!”
Cheers,
Robby

However the tricky part is the “right?” at the end of the question. “You haven’t seen ‘Avatar’, right?” By saying “no” isn’t there an implication that the statement is not right (and that I have thus seen “avatar”)? If I had said yes, then that would mean “yes, that’s right, I haven’t seen Avatar.”
Or maybe am reading too much into it?

Hi Luque,
You’d answer the question by saying “No” and it would imply that you haven’t seen it; nobody would think you’ve seen it! The very question is posed in a way that would only accept “No” as the right answer as it corresponds with the negation “haven’t”.
Obviously the person asking it already suspects you haven’t seen it and if you were to simply respond to this question by saying “Yes” – it wouldn’t even make sense. If you’ve seen Avatar and you want to CONTRADICT the person’s assumption, you’d have to show it in your response using words such as “actually”, “guess what” or “as a matter of fact” and then followed by “I have”: “Well, guess what? I actually have!”
Hope it makes sense!
Robby

luque

Hello, not sure this is considered a tag question, but let’s say I have not seen the movie “Avatar”.
If someone asks me “you haven’t seen ‘Avatar’, right?”
If I answer “no” (implying “no, i haven’t seen it”) would it be incorrect? Would the person think I have seen it?
Technically would the best answer be “yes” or “no” to the question?

Hi Karla,
I’d say “When did you have your first child?” is the proper way of expressing the question.
You’d use Present Perfect to ask a general question such as “Have you had any children?”, but when it comes to asking questions about specific events having happened in the past – that’s when Simple Past steps in.
Cheers,
Robby

Karla

Hello. My daughter´s English teacher says that the question: When have you had your first child? is grammatically correct. It sounds wrong to me. Is it right or wrong? Why?

The thing is – there’s plenty of collocations that sound incorrect at first, but when you look into it you’ll realize it’s how native speakers speak, so we just have to learn them and start using them!

Here’s another example I can tell you right off the top of my head: “roast chicken”. If you think about it, it should be “roasted chicken”, right? But guess what? Both “roast chicken” and “roasted chicken” are totally valid collocations, so we just have to accept you can say it both ways.

As a matter of fact, I’ve blogged about similar phrases before, here’s the blog post: http://englishharmony.com/wrong-english-phrases/ – basically it’s all about phrases and words I thought were wrong but then it turned out I was wrong! 😉
Also, let me just tell you I’m planning to create an article on phrases similar to “roast” and “roasted chicken” – so stay tuned!
Cheers,
Robby

Diane

I’ve always thought ‘minimum spend’ was grammatically incorrect (as opposed to ‘minimum spending’) but I’ve seen it being used widely in advertisements and promotional materials in recent years. Is this just one of those terms that have become acceptable overtime due to frequency of use? After all, ‘spend’ does not seem to be classified as a noun in dictionaries.

Hi Rocky,
This sentence is taken from a different context, it doesn’t make any sense just on its own. Here’s how I’d word it for it to sound normal: “There’s a requirement for a government hospital to have a help desk”.
Cheers,
Robby

Rocky Mumabi

” Government hosptial to have help desk.” In this sentence i am not getting why “to” is put before have. I just want to know the why which rules this sentence is formed.

Hi Yunus, personally I would word this sentence a bit differently because it kind of doesn’t sound right: “Despite any rain or snow there are always more than fifty thousand fans attending OSU football games”!
Cheers,
Robby

Yunus Shudeifat

help me to find the error in this sentence.

Despite of rain or snow there are always more than fifty thousand fans at
the OSU football games.

A very valid question – thanks for asking, you’ll read the answer to it in the upcoming article!

Cheers,

Robby

mag

Hi Robby,
i have a question that bothered me ever since im ready to write an essay. Wats the difference between “if i did something…” and “if i do something” This make me so confused and i dont know how to choose between them to write in my essay.
thx
mag

Thanks a lot for the question, it’s a very valid one, and I’ll respond to it in the article!

Cheers,

Robby

Milay

Hi!
Yesterday my English teacher told me that the verb “love” never can go in the -ing form. However, I have just listened to a song called “I still loving you” by Scorpions and the slogan “I’m loving it” by McDonalds’. I feel a little bit confused. Thanks a lot!

What SEEMS like a stupid question initially, may turn out to be quite a valid question afterwards, so don’t worry, I’l include it in the article and respond to it accordingly!

By the way – do I LOOK LIKE a person who’d discredit my fellow foreigner’s question? No chance in hell! 😉

Cheers,

Robby

ASHKEEN AHMED

Dear Robby.
How’s tricks.
Me being as Ashkeen Ahmed. one of your followers from India. I have got a questions. Could you tell me How to define someone’s personality. in which tense we have to speak. Present progressive or present simple..

That’s a good question Nick. The subjunctive is something that a lot of teachers don’t even know about!
Knowing more about it will help you better understand certain conditionals and when we speak more hypothetically or use some verb structures.
Many patterns in English ‘include’ the subjunctive, which Robby can elaborate on in his upcoming posts 🙂

Juhapekka

I didn’t find any good sample sentences despite my searches. It’s weird because I have usually encountered it every now and then but now when I’m looking for it I can’t find. I tried to google it and I did searches such as difficult grammar structures
containing preposition “of” but I didn’t find this particular structure. I don’t know what is the name of this structure: It’s not the double genitive construction such as “a book of mine” or “a friend of my friend’s” and it’s not “sequential genitive”
such as in the sentence “Within the nucleus (which for the purposes of the simple descriptions of the atom could be regarded as like a positively charged billiard ball), we find particles that are, in some senses, “like” electrons, and forces that operate
“like” electromagnetism.”, either but it’s similar or the combination of them. Despite all of this I’m still sure it’s relatively common in written and also in spoken English. But anyway, the link in my previous comment contains somewhat similar structures I was looking for. The sentence I mentioned in my latest comment was only one random sentence and the articles in the link contain more like the sentence “Surreal indeed — but so general as to be of little practical value”. When I first read this sentence I hadn’t any clue what the word combination “as to be of” mean but I kind of guessed it from context quite soon but I don’t know what kind of grammar structure it is or why there has to be preposition “of”. But that doesn’t matter
from the point of view of reading comprehension and that’s the good way how we should read difficult English texts without bogging down on individual grammar structures too much and that’s the way how we were taught to understand them in the reading comprehension course of my university. And the second good method to understand longer sentences is to split them to smaller meaningful units: “One of the standard ways (SPLIT) to determine (SPLIT) how useful a scientific paper is (SPLIT) is (SPLIT) to count the number of times (SPLIT) it is referred to (SPLIT) in other scientific papers (SPLIT) — the number of citations.” And then it’s also easier to memorize this kind of sentences and speak them out loud. This previous sentence is unbelievably simple and finally easy to understand by splitting it meaningfully and by finding the main clause but I didn’t understand it in the first place at all because it sounded confusing because of its sequential verbs “is is” and its sequential prepositions “to in”. Maybe there is better way to understand difficult texts but this is at least the good one. But I’m not usually so lucky as guessing grammar structures and words from context and that’s my problem but hopefully practice makes perfect!

vajira

How to use the word RATHER in speaking

vajira

Hi Sir

The estimate budget is attachec herewith for your perusal
or
The estimated budget is attached herewith for your perusal

What is correct

Parmo

Hi Robby…

Regarding this topic, I also have one stupid question:
When I can use “seem” and “look like” to describing something??
Appreciate your response.

Yes, you’re quite correct in pointing out that this whole grammar analysis goes against the English Harmony philosophy – but there’s a reason why I’m encouraging my blog visitors and mailing list subscribers to ask them.

Namely – they’ll be asked by those who still haven’t been “converted” to the idea of learning sentences and phrases on an individual basis without trying to extrapolate certain rules on the entire speech which inevitably leads to fluency issues.

And then, when those said visitors explore the article and start reading my ideas (which I’m sure going to include in it!) about uselessness of analysis, hopefully I’m going to “convert” some of them.

Speaking of your question – it goes without saying I’ll include it in the article and elaborate on it accordingly.

This grammar topic is a bit surprising because it seems to be somehow against EH philosophy. I mean that there are so many grammar structures and exceptions to grammar rules that it’s perhaps nearly impossible to learn them all separately and then
use them efficiently. But maybe you’re going to provide some general guideline how to learn difficult or unclear grammar structures. Although I have learnt English quite a long time, I still make mistakes with simple grammar things like whether to choose preposition “to” or “for” and sometimes I struggle a bit with articles or with tenses (simple or continuous). And some grammar rules are unclear for me like the rule where it’s forbidden to use both infinitive and gerund sequentially but I have still seen few examples of those written by native English speaker but maybe it’s still always mistake because even native English speakers make mistakes when they are writing. And there are many more grammar structures that I can struggle with! That’s why it’s difficult to pick up only one English grammar related question but having said that there is one question which has bothered me in the past but unfortunately I don’t remember any sample sentences but I’ll post at least one good sample sentence later if I find a good one. But anyway my question relates to the usages of prepositions “of” and “for”. And of course I don’t mean the most usual usages of those prepositions where “of” is genitive but I mean something similar like the usage of preposition “of” in the sentence “It is unproblematic that scientists produce accounts of the world that they find comprehensible; given their cultural resources, only singular incompetence could have prevented members of the [particle physics] community producing an understandable version of reality at any point in their history.” The sentence is from the article http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/misc.htm#Prescient . There was also one interesting word in the title of one other article and it’s ye: On Ye Shoulders of Giants but it’s maybe rather old English used in King James Bible, for example but it’s still very interesting despite it’s oldness. Anyway this usage of preposition “of” is somewhat clear for me but I actually mean the grammar structure which is more complicated (but it’s still relatively common even in spoken language but I didn’t understand this particular grammar structure at all when I saw it) but I just couldn’t find or remember any sample sentence. And sometimes I think whether the definite article “the” is always used in “of-genitive” or is it possible to use indefinite articles “a” and “an” instead. And sometimes “for” means something like “because of” or then something other that is sometimes confusing for me. But these grammar questions can be quite endless and when I was writing this comment I actually started to think about why the collocation “having said that” is exactly in that form and what kind of grammar structure it is and when to use “which” and when “that” or what is the difference between “though” and “although”. As you know there are many peculiar grammar structures in English but anyway I eagerly anticipate what kind of article you’re going to make. I know that my comment is a bit vague this time and I haven’t any good sample sentence but hopefully it makes sense and you have some sort of idea what I meant. And hopefully I don’t have much grammar mistakes in my comments that they’d be easy to read.

anna

Hi Robby,
Can you tell when to use this, it or that. For example : that’s great, it’s great….

Thanks Carl, thanks for the question! But hold on, were you aware I’m not providing an immediate answer? It’s to keep the suspense and maintain the intrigue – I’ll publish my answers to all these questions in a big, long article in about week’s time or so!